~ 我看青山多妩媚，料青山见我应如是 The mountain looks so beautiful in my eyes, that it reminds me of myself

Buffett Tells Hog-Product Staff They’re on Farming Superhighway

By Andrew Frye Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett, the billionairechairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., told employees of thefirm’s hog-products unit he expects the operation to expand fordecades. “CTB has been moving ahead every year since we boughtit,” Buffett said in a video posted on the Web site of CTBInc., Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire’s agriculture-equipmentunit. “We’ll hit a bump in the road every now and then butwe’re looking at a superhighway out there in front of us.” Buffett became the second-richest American by investing inbusinesses he expects to grow for decades. He’s said his $26billion takeover of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.,announced in November, will benefit Berkshire “over the nextcentury.” CTB, which Berkshire bought in 2002, may produceprofits beyond the year 2200, Buffett, 79, said in the video. “Most years are going to be good, a few years will bestandouts, and there will be a few that are bummers,” Buffettsaid. “But that’s the way we look at everything here atBerkshire Hathaway. We’re going to be in these businesses for100 years or 200 years.” CTB, which sells feeders and stalls under the PigTek andChore-Time Hog brands, has expanded abroad by buying businessesin Israel, Germany and the Netherlands. Chief Executive OfficerVictor Mancinelli persuaded Buffett to buy his firm. HowardBuffett, a farmer and the billionaire’s son, endorsed the deal.

Good Things

“I checked with Howie; he told me CTB was an absolutefirst-class company and he’d heard good things about Vic,”Buffett said. “Howie would rather spend an evening on a tractorin the field than a date with Angelina Jolie, which is not trueof all members of the family, but that’s true of Howie.” Howard Buffett has been picked to succeed his father asBerkshire’s chairman when Warren Buffett’s tenure, entering itsfifth decade, comes to a close. The elder Buffett, who ownsabout a quarter of Berkshire and is its CEO, has said settlingon his eventual replacement as chief is the No. 1 responsibilityof the firm’s board. In the CTB video, Buffett praised Mancinelli. “Vic is amanager that could run any company in the Fortune 500,” Buffettsaid. “He’s done a wonderful job for us.” U.S. hog farmers have shrunk the size of sow herds to thesmallest since at least 1976, as feed prices jumped to a recordin 2008 and the recession and an outbreak of swine flu sappedpork demand in 2009.

‘Year After Year’

“There will be low prices and there will be high prices,”Buffett said. “But the one thing you can be sure about is thatour industry is going to be there year after year after year.” Berkshire’s acquisition of CTB was valued at $177 million,according to Bloomberg data. Six years later, in 2008, the unitproduced pretax earnings of $89 million, Buffett said in thecompany’s 2009 annual letter. CTB bought six companies in theinterim, including Swine Services Specialists Inc. and Porcongroup of Deurne, the Netherlands. “The CTB story is just starting,” Buffett said. “I am 79so I’ll be 100 in 2030. Stay tuned for a rebroadcast at thattime and I’ll be telling you about all kinds of wonderful thingsthat have happened in the company. It’s in the right industry.Farming is as fundamental as things get in this country.”